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Nurture Your Resilience. (2022, July 15). NIH News in Health. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2022/04/nurture-your-resilience
How does Innovative Technology Helps Kids Build Resilience?
21st century learners need to possess a variety of abilities, such as collaboration, inquiry, critical thinking, open-mindedness, problem-solving, communication, and so on. One overlooked aspect is resilience, the ability to bounce back from setbacks. When faced with adversity, do students have the courage to challenge themselves? When confronted with difficulties, can they work with others to achieve their goals? After experiencing failure, are they able to "reset" and try again? During my four years of teaching first grade, I noticed that my students were easily discouraged and reluctant to try again after setbacks, because they are afraid of failing once more. However, after completing CEP811, I believe that innovative technology can effectively help students overcome their fears and muster the courage to face challenges.
First of all, innovative technology is very interesting, and students really enjoy it. Exploring innovative technology is a process of discovering and solving problems. In this process, failures are bound to occur, and teamwork is necessary. Through continuous trying, students' resilience is strengthened. In Unit 3 Learning, I wrote a reflection on failure. I chose Lego Spike set that is designed for kids aged six and above. At the beginning of my exploration, I was really frustrated (I was surprised that I didn't know how to play something designed for six-year-olds!). After assembling it and giving the program, it didn't work! My six-year-old son helped me and pointed out that I needed to add a triangle-shaped start button at the beginning of my program. I asked him how he knew that, and he said it was the first step on the program's introduction page (while I was too confident and skipped it). I observed that when he encountered difficulties, he would backtrack a few steps to identify the problem (I guessed he knew there was no use asking me), and then make changes. If it still didn't work, he would continue the process until the problem is found and fixed. Once it started working, he excitedly showed me the result. I marveled at the wisdom and determination of the creators behind innovative technologies. In the discussion on "Maker" in Unit 1, I mentioned that makers need to have foresight because what our students will be doing in the future, we cannot even imagine now. Just like ten years ago when I was still in school, I couldn't even imagine there would be AI or ChatGPT, and many jobs could be replaced. However, thinking about the talents and abilities needed for the future can provide direction for us as educators. One of the most important abilities is resilience, the ability to continuously try and face challenges with courage.
Chiaro, C. (2022). What is Maker Education? TeachHUB. https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies/2020/04/what-is-maker-education/
Secondly, from a constructivist perspective, students' teamwork and resilience are strengthened through the process of trying-failing-trying again. "Piaget's (1968) constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and ideas. Papert's (1980) constructionism is based on the principle that meaningful learning occurs when individuals actively construct a meaningful product in the real world" (Rob, M. and Rob, F. 2018). When exploring innovative technology, students construct new knowledge based on their prior knowledge and experiences. In addition, it requires collaborative problem solving (just like when I encountered difficulties and had to ask my son, students do the same with each other). Since everyone's knowledge and skills are different, mutual learning and interaction are particularly important. When designing the wind power generation lesson, I assigned tasks and roles to each student based on their strengths and personality traits. At the end, each student had to grade themselves and their peers. This rubric encourages students to play their roles well and help their peers in times of difficulty, thereby enhancing teamwork and resilience. Students know that they don't have to be afraid when facing difficulties because they have their peers. As a Chinese proverb goes, "Many hands make light work."
Finally, the process of learning CEP811 itself has strengthened my resilience. At first, I couldn't even understand the topics of blogs. I found myself getting off topic in the first few posts, having to delete and rewrite. This was very frustrating for me. But I really enjoy the content. I have a great interest in educational technology, and want to try again. The process of writing and revising Unit 4,5,6 lesson plan made me rethink about learning itself. Learning is about breaking out of one's comfort zone, accepting others' suggestions, finding good viewpoints to apply, and then making one's own knowledge more complete. I really enjoy this process. As the final blog post for CEP 811, I hope that educators can try to use innovative technology more in their daily teaching. This is a new door to open up the world of teaching!
What is the Importance of Innovation in Technology? (2021, December 15). MIT ID INNOVATION. https://mitidinnovation.com/recreation/what-is-the-importance-of-innovation-in-technology/
References:
Chiaro, C. (2022). What is Maker Education? TeachHUB. https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies/2020/04/what-is-maker-education/
Nurture Your Resilience. (2022, July 15). NIH News in Health. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2022/04/nurture-your-resilience
Rob, M., & Rob, F. (2018). Dilemma between constructivism and constructionism: Leading to the development of a teaching-learning framework for student engagement and learning. Journal of International Education in Business, 11.
What is the Importance of Innovation in Technology? (2021, December 15). MIT ID INNOVATION. https://mitidinnovation.com/recreation/what-is-the-importance-of-innovation-in-technology/
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